Laurie Strode
Laurie Strode, is a character and primary protagonist in the ''Halloween'' franchise. She first appeared in the original Halloween, played by Jamie Lee Curtis. Laurie's history is complicated by the fact that the series follows several conflicting continuities. Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later and Resurrection ignore the events of Halloween 4, 5, and 6, splitting the series into two separate timelines both originating from the original film and it's it's sequel. The 2007 remake reboots the series continuity altogether, starting the timeline afresh. Biography Early years Laurie Strode was the youngest of three children of Donald and Edith Myers. When Laurie was only two, her six-year-old brother Michael brutally murdered his older sister Judith with a butcher knife. Michael was sent away following the incident. At some point when Laurie was very young, she was taken to to visit Michael at Smith's Grove Sanitarium. In 1966, her parents were killed in an automobile accident and Laurie went into the foster care system where she was immediately adopted by the Strode family. The governor of Illinois kept her records sealed so that no one would further connect Laurie Strode with her psychotic older sibling. Laurie eventually forget about her birth family and the visit she made to her brother. 1978 By 1978, Laurie was a kindhearted yet introverted girl of seventeen who attended Haddonfield High School with her friends Annie Brackett and Lynda Van Der Klok. Laurie was shy and bookish and did not share her friends' overt personalities. She always claimed that her brainy ways scared boys away, which accounted for her sparse dating history. On October 31st, her adoptive father Morgan Strode, owner of Strode Realty, asked Laurie to drop off a set of keys to the old Myers house, which had been on the market for quite some time. Laurie had no idea that this was in fact the house she was born in. During literature class, Laurie glimpsed a man staring at her across the street. After school, Laurie and her friends were walking home when she spied the same strange shape peering at them from around a corner. Annie went to investigate, but found nothing. She teased Laurie, saying that she "scared another one away". At home, she thought she saw the same strange, masked man in her neighbor's back yard behind a clothes line. After taking a shower, Laurie was visited by a frantic Lynda, who claimed that someone had been following her. Laurie worriedly assumed that Lynda's stalker was the same man she had been seeing, and became increasingly paranoid. Later that day, she went out with Annie and learned that someone had broken into Nichol's Hardware Store and stolen some rope, a knife and a Halloween mask. As Annie and she drove around town, Laurie expressed an interest in going out with a boy named Bennett Tramer. Annie decided to take matters into her own hands and surreptitiously contacted Ben without Laurie's approval. Laurie was deeply embarrassed when she heard the news and begged Annie to call him back and break it off. That evening, Laurie went to the Doyle residence to babysit young Tommy Doyle. She brought along a jack-o'-lantern and entertained Tommy by reading him some of his comic books and watching scary movies. As the evening wore on, Annie came over to the house with her own charge, Lindsey Wallace, in tow. She asked Laurie to keep an eye on Lindsey for the next few hours so she could go out with her boyfriend Paul. Laurie didn't like the idea, but agreed after Annie told her she would cancel her pending date with Ben Tramer. What Laurie didn't realize at the time, was that her psychotic brother Michael Myers had broken out of the mental institution at Smith's Grove and had returned to Haddonfield to kill again. It was Michael that Laurie had seen earlier at school, on the sidewalk and in her neighbor's back yard. While Laurie was watching over Tommy, Michael was methodically killing her friends off one at a time including, Annie, Lynda and Lynda's boyfriend Bob Simms. Laurie went over to the Wallace residence to check on Annie, but instead found the bodies of Annie, Lynda and Bob strategically placed in key positions throughout the house. Michael Myers emerged and attacked Laurie, slicing her arm open with his knife. The impact pitched Laurie over the second floor landing, and she fell down the stairs, cracking her ankle in the process. Halloween II (1981) provided the full diagnosis on Laurie's injuries. Screaming in terror, Laurie limped back to the Doyle house and screamed for the children to let her inside. Tommy eventually opened the door and Laurie quickly entered the house, locking the door behind her. Somehow, Michael managed to get inside the house and attacked Laurie anew. She kept him at bay by stabbing him in the neck with a knitting needle then ran upstairs. Michael was undeterred and followed her up the stairs. He cornered Laurie in a bedroom closet and tried stabbing at her with his knife. Laurie straightened out the end of a clothes hanger and jabbed Michael in the eye, forcing him to relinquish his blade. Laurie picked it up and stabbed Michael in the stomach. He slumped to the floor and Laurie believed he was dead. Tearfully, she exited the closet and issued instructions to the children to leave the house. Moments later however, Michael rose and attacked Laurie again. He began strangling and Laurie managed to pull his mask away, seeing his face for the first time. At this moment, Michael's former psychiatrist Doctor Sam Loomis burst into the house and fired a shot into Michael's body. He followed it up with five more shots, which drove Michael through the bedroom window, out over the balcony and down onto the ground. When Loomis looked over the balcony however to check on Michael's body, he was gone. A hysterical Laurie meekly asked him, "Was that the Boogey Man?", to which Loomis replied, "As a matter of fact... it was." Massacre at Haddonfield Memorial Laurie was taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, but she was in too much of a state of shock to provide the EMTs or hospital staff with any pertinent information regarding Michael Myers. A young ambulance driver named Jimmy took a liking to Laurie and promised to watch over her as she recuperated. Jimmy told Laurie the name of the man who had been trying to kill her. Laurie was terrified about being put to sleep out of fear that the "Boogey Man" would get her. The chief of medicine Frederick Mixter dismissed her concerns and kept Laurie heavily sedated. After awakening, Laurie was alarmed to learn that the man who had pursued her was in fact Michael Myers, and worried when head nurse Virginia Alves told her that her parents could not be contacted. Later, Laurie learned from Jimmy that Myers had apparently died in a car accident, although the victim in question was actually Laurie's crush Ben Tramer. Laurie panicked, trying to escape, causing the staff to sedate her once again. While unconscious, Laurie had a dream wherein she saw images of her brother at a young age and she recalled her mother telling her that she was actually adopted. Waking from this dream, Laurie began to slowly understand her connection to Myers, though she had yet to realize that he was in fact her brother. Michael meanwhile, having survived his initial encounter with Doctor Loomis, had tracked Laurie to the hospital and sought to finish her off. One by one, he cut his way through each member of the attending hospital staff until nothing stood between Laurie and he. When Laurie realized that Michael was still hunting for her, she left her hospital room and began shambling down the empty corridors. Michael eventually discovered her and gave chase, but Laurie managed to escape by climbing through a window in a storeroom. She then hid in unlocked car that happened to belong to Jimmy whom joined her shortly. He told her that they were going to get away but he soon passed out. Laurie tried to start the car but failed and she was forced to get out. At this time she saw Doctor Loomis, his assistant Marion Chambers and a Federal marshal enter the front doors of the hospital. Laurie tried to call out to them, but her voice was too hoarse. Myers appeared before her, and Laurie managed to get back inside the hospital. Doctor Loomis pushed Laurie behind him and temporarily halted Michael by firing several more shots into his chest. This only slowed Michael down by a matter of seconds however, and he quickly got back up and began chasing them. Loomis and Laurie sought shelter inside one of the empty examination rooms. He handed Laurie a gun and locked the door to the room. Michael broke through the door and critically injured Doctor Loomis. Laurie fired the gun Sam had given her, taking out both of Michael's eyes. Though blind, Michael continued to slash away at the air, hoping to connect with Laurie. The bleeding Doctor Loomis and Laurie then began releasing the valves on several canisters of ether. As Laurie vacated the room, Loomis ignited the ether, causing a massive explosion. Laurie turned around to see Michael still trying to walk towards her but he finally fell down and was assumed dead. Laurie was then taken into an ambulance. Laurie staring outside until she was surpised by Jimmy who survived. She grabbed his hand and told him that they made it. Jamie Lloyd The following information is only relevant to the 4-6 timeline. :For more information, see Laurie Strode (4 - 6 timeline). Following the traumatic experience of 1978, Laurie married Mr. Lloyd and in 1980 had a daughter with him named Jamie. Both Laurie and her husband died in an unspecified accident in November, 1987, leaving Jamie in the care of Richard and Darlene Carruthers, whose daughter Rachel Laurie had babysat as a teenager. Jamie was left with a shoebox full of pictures of her parents, including one that had been taken of Laurie on Halloween, 1978. When Michael Myers returned to Haddonfield to kill Jamie in 1988, he used these pictures to ensure that the girl he was pursuing was indeed Laurie Strode's daughter. In 1995, Laurie's adoptive cousins, John, Debra, Kara, Tim and Danny Strode moved into the Myers house. It is unknown what the Strodes' opinion on Laurie was. 20 Years Later The following information is only relevant to the H20 timeline. :For more information, see Laurie Strode (H20 timeline). Laurie relocated to California and changed her name to Keri Tate. She had at one point gotten involved with a man with whom she had a child in 1981, named John. Based on how she referred to him as an abusive, chain-smoking methadone addict, it is clear they had a bad relationship. She and John moved to Summer Glen, California where she became the headmistress of a small private prep school known as Hillcrest Academy. The two of them lived on campus with the rest of the students. Laurie still struggled with the events of Halloween, 1978. Her past trauma, as well as the stress of living under false pretense, had turned her into a functioning alcoholic. She was also heavily dependent on medication for her emotional condition. Laurie had gotten into a secret relationship with school guidance counselor Will Brennan. On October 31, 1998, twenty years to the day after the original Haddonfield murder spree, the couple decided to have lunch together. During their date, she revealed that she was scared that she was losing her son and that she had a horrible background. She also revealed to him that she had tried group therapy, self-help, meditation and numerous others and she still suffered from the past. He told her that she just needed someone to listen and she told him that she would tell him someday. While he goes to the men's room, Laurie chugs her glass of wine and orders another, hurrying the waiter so that Will won't realize she's had two instead of just one. After their lunch date Laurie found John and his friend Charles Deveraux roaming around town when she stated they wasn't allowed to. She and John aruged about what he was doing as John felt he had enough of being so over-protected all the time. He told her that Michael Myers was dead and wasn't going to come back. She took both of them back and was disappointed in Ronnie, the security guard at the school. Unknown to them all, Michael Myers was still alive and he followed Laurie back to the school. After she thought it over, She tells John that she had thought about what he said and was going to allow him to go on the school trip to Yosemite. As she leaves to go home, she sees a dark shape walking towards, she keeps seeing Michael but when the shape gets closer it is actually Will. They agree to meetup at her place and keep each other company for the night. As soon as Will arrives at Laurie's home, the two start to makeout. In the middle of it, Laurie tells him that she is not Keri Tate and that her real name is Laurie Strode. Will thinks she is joking when she tells him that her brother killed her sister with a kitchen knife, and that years later he came after her. Will eventually realizes she's telling the truth and wonders how old Laurie was at the time. She tells him she was 17, then suddenly realizes that John has just turned 17 as well. Her sense of panic sets in and she tries to call John; the phones are dead. She immediately goes to her bedroom and retrieves a gun, discovering John's camping gear in his closet; she now knows John never left for Yosemite. Ronny appears at the front door and tells them that there is a strange car parked in the driveway. They decide to search for John and the others. Laurie and Will eventually find Molly and John banging on the door, begging for someone to open it for them. Laurie opens the door for them and comes face to face with Michael for the first time in twenty years. Laurie gets her gun ready to shoot him but Michael has already disappeared by the time she looks back up. Laurie puts John and Molly in a room and locks it, while she and Will look for Myers in the hallway. She tells Will to escape but he tells her that he isn't leaving without her who tells him she isn't leaving without her son. Will sees a shadow and thinks it is Myers, grabbing Laurie's gun and shooting. It is really Ronny; Will has shot him in the head. As they panic about the mistake, Myers appears and stabs Will to death, chasing Laurie down the hallway. She hits him over the head with a fire extinguisher and runs off with John and Molly. They make it to their vehicle and Laurie drives off to the front gate. Before she drives off, Laurie has a sudden moment of revelation. Instead of running, she sends John and Molly off and closes the gate behind them, breaking the mechanism that opens it. She then grabs a fire axe and sets out looking for Michael. She finds him back in the school and the two of them stalk each other, wounding each other with the axe and various knives. Finally Laurie stabs Michael several times in the chest, sending him hurtling over a balcony into the hall. He seems dead, but Laurie knows better and tries to stab him again but is stopped by Ronnie. Ronnie takes her out of the school as the police and ambulance arrive. Laurie looks at her son and then watches as the coroner loads Michael in. Knowing that he isn't truly dead, Laurie grabs an axe, steals a cop's gun and takes the coroner's van with Michael inside. While she drives down the mountainous road, Myers begins to reanimate and pulls himself out of the body bag. Laurie slams on the brakes and sends him through the windshield, driving into him with the van. The van plunges over the hillside and both Laurie and Michael are thrown from it. Michael gets the worst of the deal; the van slams into his body and pins it against a fallen tree. Laurie finds the fire axe and approaches Michael, who is still alive, but helpless. She calls to him and he looks up at her, mute but seemingly asking her for help. Laurie reaches out for him, their fingertips touching briefly, and she feels pity for Michael. Suddenly her rage wells up inside her when she remembers all the pain he has caused her, and she decapitates Michael with a single blow. Final Fight Laurie had thought she finally killed her brother and ended the pain he had on her but it turned out to be the wrong person. Laurie learned that Michael had found a paramedic while he was still in the school. Michael crushed his larynx, and forcefully switched his clothing and his mask. Knowing that her brother was still out there and that she had taken an innocent's man life, Laurie had been sent to Grace Andersen Sanitarium where everyone believed her to be in a catatonic state. The doctors and nurses thought she was like this because she was guilt-ridden over killing an innocent man. This proved to be not the case as Laurie had been stuffing the pills they gave her in a doll she carried with her. She waited for three years for Michael to come after her and watched her window everynight. She had also went up to the roof several times to setup a trap for Michael but the doctors thought she just went up there to be suicidal. Finally on October 31 2001, Michael finally made his apperance and watched Laurie as she did the same . Michael came to her room and was attacked by Laurie who used a lamp against his head and made a ran up towards the roof. Michael had once again followed her up there and once he got there, he discovered nothing but her coat hanging over the roof.. Once he got close enough towards the edge, Laurie revealed herself and set Michael up in her trap and was hung over the roof. She told him that she knew he would come sooner or later for her and told him that he had failed as she was no longer afraid of him. She had also told him that he would never find her son as she had hidden him. However once Laurie was prepaired to cut the rope that would sent Michael to his death, Michael started to act as if he was panicked. Laurie's fears that she would kill the wrong person got to better of her and she reached to take off the mask. This was a trick of Michael's who took his sister down with him and stabbed her in the back while he held onto the edge of the roof. Laurie kissed her brother and told him that would she would see him in hell. Michael took the knife out and let Laurie Strode fall to her death. Notes & Trivia *According to screenwriter/producer Debra Hill, the character of Laurie Strode was named after John Carpenter's first girlfriend. See Also * Laurie Strode (H20 timeline) * Laurie Strode (4 - 6 timeline) * Laurie Strode (remake timeline) References Category:Female characters Category:Victims of Michael Myers Category:Myers Family Category:Halloween (1978) characters Category:Halloween H20 characters Category:Halloween Resurrection characters Category:2000's deaths Category:1960's births Category:Halloween II (1981) characters Category:Halloween II (2009) characters Category:Strode Family Category:Halloween: 30 Years of Terror characters Category:Chaos Comics.Halloween characters